Since Van's uses pretty much the same wheel pants for all the models, I'll post this in the general section...
I did a couple of speed runs at 8,000' this morning, just to see how things had changed since I opened up the clearances between the tires and the pants. It is hard for me to quantify the clearances, but let's just say that the original clearance was about the thickness of a little finger and now, I can stick my thumb in all the way around. (You'd think that it would be easy to measure, but all the curves and compund geometry make it not so...)
When I ran my initial flight tests a couple months ago, I was getting 187 KTAS at 8,000', wide open and leaned for best power. Today, the best I could get was 185. Now, is that due to the opened up clearances, the engine being slightly more worn-in, slightly less (or more) precise flying, or simply the fact that we're dealing with a 1% variation, which is probably less than the various innacuracies in the overall system? Can't tell you for sure, but something tells me that the opened up clearances cost me a knot or two. Nevertheless, I have no interest in cutting another tire, and if that costs me a nudge of top-end speed (which I won't use very often anyway), then that's the price I pay....
Your speed and mileage may varry....
Paul
I did a couple of speed runs at 8,000' this morning, just to see how things had changed since I opened up the clearances between the tires and the pants. It is hard for me to quantify the clearances, but let's just say that the original clearance was about the thickness of a little finger and now, I can stick my thumb in all the way around. (You'd think that it would be easy to measure, but all the curves and compund geometry make it not so...)
When I ran my initial flight tests a couple months ago, I was getting 187 KTAS at 8,000', wide open and leaned for best power. Today, the best I could get was 185. Now, is that due to the opened up clearances, the engine being slightly more worn-in, slightly less (or more) precise flying, or simply the fact that we're dealing with a 1% variation, which is probably less than the various innacuracies in the overall system? Can't tell you for sure, but something tells me that the opened up clearances cost me a knot or two. Nevertheless, I have no interest in cutting another tire, and if that costs me a nudge of top-end speed (which I won't use very often anyway), then that's the price I pay....
Your speed and mileage may varry....
Paul